Search - Emmanuel Chabrier, Maurice Ravel, Alain Planès :: Chabrier: Oeuvres pour piano

Impressionistic Merriment

Micromegas | Ada, OK | 07/06/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love Chabrier's orchestral music, but I always suspected it had a pianistic origin (the melodies would fit so well on the piano, it seemed). The irony is that his piano music sounds orchestral in its use of color and sheer scope of ideas. However, I think Chabrier was most at home in the piano, and it beautifully unlocks his impressionistic use of color, while at the same time capturing his rollicking, vaudevillian passages of humor and high spirits.



This disc is beautifully played and recorded; I would hesitate to ever listen to another disc of Chabrier's piano music again! (though the Naxos series complements this quite well, actually). If you know the four pieces of his Suite pastorale, you will be delighted to find the originals here, plus several other pieces, none of which are any less compelling. The pieces alternate from exercises in mood and memory, beautiful music that seems to have always existed (and I guess for those of us born after Chabrier, it has!), and very earthy, vivacious numbers that give the piano a good thumping. It's rare for a composer to combine poetry and humor in equal measure, which is perhaps why he inspired composers like Ravel, Satie, and Poulenc.



Perhaps my favorite piece on this disc is the Menuet pompeaux (sp?), which is a fiery virtuoso number, yet without a touch of vulgarity. I had never heard it before and was really taken with it. Another gem is the famous Habanera, a gorgeous three minute piece which the most nostalgic melody I can possibly imagine.



If you love the piano works of Debussy, Ravel, Chopin, Poulenc (or I suppose Frenchmen in general), and you respond to the impressionist school and Toulouse-Latrec, you will find a kindred spirit in Chabrier's music. A fascinating disc that is full of the summer sun."